Clint Eastwood Biography

Born: May 31, 1930
San Francisco, California
American actor and director

With many roles including westerns and the
Dirty Harry
series, Clint Eastwood became one of the world's most popular and
successful movie stars. He also established himself as a successful
director.

Early life

Clinton Eastwood Jr. was born on May 31, 1930, in San Francisco,
California. He was the first of Clinton and Ruth Eastwood's two
children. Eastwood attended eight different grammar schools, as his
parents moved frequently in search of work during the Great Depression
(1929–39; a time when the U.S. economy was very weak and many
people were without work). They finally settled in Oakland, California.
He attended Oakland Technical High School and even appeared in a school
play, an experience he did not enjoy. Eastwood swam competitively in
high school and also played on the basketball team. After graduating in
1948, he held various low-paying jobs before being drafted into the
army. He was discharged in 1953. Then he enrolled in Los Angeles City
College as a business major, supporting himself with various odd jobs,
including digging swimming pool foundations.

Early acting career

Army friends in the film business urged Eastwood to take a screen test
at Universal Studios. His good looks landed him a job as a contract
player in 1955. He earned seventy-five dollars a week playing small
parts in bad movies. Universal dropped him in 1956, and by 1958 Eastwood
was again digging swimming pools for a living. As the result of a chance
meeting, he was chosen for the cast of the Columbia Broadcasting System
(CBS) television series
Rawhide,
which lasted seven years (1959–66).

During a break from
Rawhide
in 1964, Eastwood filmed the western
A Fistful of Dollars
in Spain with Italian director Sergio Leone. The film made Eastwood an
overnight star. He returned to Europe to film two more westerns,
For a Few Dollars More
(1965) and
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
(1966). Eastwood's character in these films was cold and tough,
as were characters in his later westerns, such as
The Outlaw Josey Wales
(1976) and
Unforgiven
(1992). Another tough character he created was Harry Callahan, a
detective who ignores police regulations and practices his own brand of
justice. Callahan was introduced in
Dirty Harry
(1971), which viewers loved. Eastwood made four later films with the
Callahan character.

Begins directing

Eastwood's first attempt at directing a film was successful with
Play Misty for Me
(1971), a thriller. It received good reviews and did well at the box
office, as did many of the films he directed after it. He starred in
most of them, but not in one of his finest efforts,
Bird
(1988), which dealt with the life of the jazz musician Charlie Parker

Clint Eastwood.
Reproduced by permission of the

Corbis Corporation

.

(1920–1955). Jazz music has appeared frequently on the
soundtracks of many of Eastwood's films.

In the early 1980s Eastwood began to receive more recognition for his
contributions as producer and director, especially in his smaller films.
In 1985 he flew to Paris, France, to accept the honor of Chevalier des
Arts et Lettres, a national award. In 1992 Eastwood won his first
Academy Award for
Unforgiven.
Three years later the Academy honored him with the Irving G. Thalberg
Memorial Award, which is given to producers or directors with a body of
high-quality motion picture work. Eastwood continues to
act and direct, his later films including
The Bridges of Madison County
(1995),
Absolute Power
(1997), and
Space Cowboys
(2000).

Private and political life

Eastwood lives in Carmel, California. Most of his friends are not
involved in show business. He has been approached many times to run for
political office but has refused, except for serving a two-year term
(1986–88) as mayor of Carmel. Eastwood decided to run because he
disapproved of zoning laws in the city. After changing the laws, he
stepped down. Eastwood had two children with his first wife Maggie
Johnson, whom he married in 1953. They divorced in 1984 after a long
separation, with Johnson receiving a reported $25 million settlement.
Eastwood also lived for over ten years with actress Sandra Locke, who
appeared in many of his films. The end of that relationship resulted in
a lawsuit that required Eastwood to pay Locke more than $7 million. In
1996 Eastwood married Dina Ruiz, a television reporter.

In 2000 a jury ruled that Eastwood did not have to pay damages to a
disabled woman who claimed his Mission Ranch Inn did not comply with the
Americans with Disabilities Act. However, Eastwood was ordered to
improve handicapped access to the hotel office at his property near
Carmel. Later that year Eastwood was given a Kennedy Center Honor by
U.S. president Bill Clinton (1946–) and praised as a man who
continues to take risks in his work. In 2001 Eastwood received the San
Francisco International Film Festival's Akira Kurosawa Award for
directing. Later that year, noting Eastwood's concern for the
environment, the governor of California appointed him to the
state's Park and Recreation Commission.